MAKER of FINE GUITARS

Guitar 08/83

This small-bodied Torres shaped crossover guitar uses Port Orford cedar for the X-braced top and quilted maple with a double-depth ebony binding for the back and sides. Paul wanted to use the very lovely quilted maple, but it can be very flexible, partly because it is slab cut to make the most of the quilted figure in the wood, so it needs extra stiffening to get the best out of it - in this case, by employing the double-depth ebony binding and a central piece of rosewood inlaid inside the back. The head veneer too is bound with ebony.The rosette is also ebony with mother-of-pearl inlay. Scale-length 650mm.

Owned by Paul Karas, who writes:

"Every time I take this guitar out of the case it is an exciting experience, it looks absolutely gorgeous and has a sound to match.It is similar in size and style to my Cedar/Indian Rosewood X-braced guitar but the Port Orford/Quilted Maple construction gives me a whole new range of tones.The sound again is immediate, Rohan incorporated an internal back panel strip of dense Indian Rosewood at my request to reflect the sound slightly quicker than would have been the case with plain Maple, so I have a glorious, complimentary combination of three exotic woods that work their magic endlessly; I am always amazed at the clear depth of bass response this small guitar produces and it is a perfect match to the clear and smooth trebles."